NL - Polls show broad support among Dutch for legalising marijuana

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Two polls released yesterday showed strong support in the Netherlands for legalising marijuana outright after several decades of a tolerance policy.

Newspaper Trouw interviewed the mayors of the Netherlands' 30 largest cities, and two-thirds supported legalisation.

Meanwhile, Dutch pollster Maurice de Hond found that 49 per cent of Dutch support legalisation, while an additional 15 per cent want tolerance to continue, and just 33 per cent want a more restrictive policy. The poll had a margin of error of less than three percentage points.

Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, though people aren't prosecuted for possession of small amounts. It is sold openly in some cafes.

The latest polls follow a call Tuesday by the minister of reform to license more weed sellers outside cities to ease problems caused by foreign drug tourists in city centres.
Parliament was to debate the issue later yesterday.

Marijuana use in the Netherlands is in the middle of international norms, higher than in Scandinavian countries but lower than in the United States and England, according to the Trimbos Institute, which studies mental health and addiction.



Source: Jamaica Observer
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Website: Jamaican News Online - the Best of Jamaican Newspapers - Jamaica Observer
 
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